Clean up the process and pollution

Published: Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 21, 2014 at 5:26 p.m.

State Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican who lives near the site of Duke Energy’s massive coal ash spill on the Dan River, said he wants the General Assembly’s Environmental Review Commission to look into the issue to make sure that it “never happens again.”

That’s a great idea, and while we are at it, we should take a hard look at how the Feb. 2 spill occurred and how the state has for decades avoided forcing Duke to clean up its 33 coal ash pits statewide.

Like the slide in state funding that put North Carolina’s average teacher pay near the bottom nationwide, the languishing problem of coal ash has gone on for decades and predates Republicans gaining control of state government.

Nonetheless, the GOP must take responsibility for last year’s “regulatory reform” bill. That legislation “allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater” from its coal ash pits, Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss report in their ongoing investigation.

When a coalition of environmental groups last year filed suit to force Duke to clean up leaky coal ash dumps across the state, Duke turned to state lawmakers for help. Documents and interviews collected by the AP show how Duke’s lobbyists prodded Republican legislators to tuck a 330-word provision in a 59-page regulatory reform bill, Biesecker and Weiss reported.

“Though the bill never once mentions coal ash, the change allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater leaching from its unlined dumps toward rivers, lakes and the drinking wells of nearby homeowners,” they reported Monday.

News of this loophole made headlines across the state and nation. But it also came to light in the Times-News two months ago as part of our coverage of a January public forum sponsored by the local Environmental and Conservation Organization.

That meeting included N.C. Rep. Chuck McGrady, one of only three Republican House members to vote against the bill. One of the many reasons he voted against the bill was a provision that changes groundwater contamination cleanup rules so that cleanup is not required until contamination reaches the property boundary.

“McGrady noted that he voted against House Bill 74, the regulatory reform act that started out as two pages but morphed in the Senate to include everything from hog lagoons to carbon monoxide detectors,” we noted in our Jan. 26 editorial. “The legislation, supported by other local legislators such as N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville and N.C. Rep. Chris Whitmire of Rosman, contains a number of changes that can accurately be described as rolling back environmental protections.”

McGrady deserves a lot of credit for understanding the problems with this bill and voting against it. Not requiring companies to deal with groundwater pollution until it reaches their property line allows polluters to indefinitely put off dealing with serious threats to the environment and public health. AP’s report Monday, for instance, showed how Duke has been buying up property at Lake Julian around its Asheville coal plant, where a plume of serious groundwater pollution is expanding.

On Friday, we learned Duke pumped 61 million gallons of contaminated water from a coal ash pit into the Cape Fear River. That dumping was first spotted March 10 by the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued Duke a notice of violation “which could result in hefty fines,” AP reported. We will have to wait and see about that.

When the state’s environmental watchdogs become lapdogs to industry, it is up to the people — journalists, environmentalists, residents of affected communities — to demand change. This must go beyond punishing Duke or even federal charges, if they are warranted, against state officials for their too-cozy relationship with the utility.

True “regulatory reform” will require measures to not only clean up coal ash pits across the state, but a thorough legislative review of the regulatory process from the top down. It must identify and expose the internal mechanisms that allow money, power and politics to corrupt decision-making. Only when these problems are brought to light can the state correct them to assure such a disgraceful turn of events never happens again.

<p>State Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican who lives near the site of Duke Energy’s massive coal ash spill on the Dan River, said he wants the General Assembly’s Environmental Review Commission to look into the issue to make sure that it never happens again.</p><p>That’s a great idea, and while we are at it, we should take a hard look at how the Feb. 2 spill occurred and how the state has for decades avoided forcing Duke to clean up its 33 coal ash pits statewide.</p><p>Like the slide in state funding that put North Carolina’s average teacher pay near the bottom nationwide, the languishing problem of coal ash has gone on for decades and predates Republicans gaining control of state government.</p><p>Nonetheless, the GOP must take responsibility for last year’s regulatory reform bill. That legislation allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater from its coal ash pits, Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss report in their ongoing investigation.</p><p>When a coalition of environmental groups last year filed suit to force Duke to clean up leaky coal ash dumps across the state, Duke turned to state lawmakers for help. Documents and interviews collected by the AP show how Duke’s lobbyists prodded Republican legislators to tuck a 330-word provision in a 59-page regulatory reform bill, Biesecker and Weiss reported.</p><p>Though the bill never once mentions coal ash, the change allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater leaching from its unlined dumps toward rivers, lakes and the drinking wells of nearby homeowners, they reported Monday.</p><p>News of this loophole made headlines across the state and nation. But it also came to light in the Times-News two months ago as part of our coverage of a January public forum sponsored by the local Environmental and Conservation Organization.</p><p>That meeting included N.C. Rep. Chuck McGrady, one of only three Republican House members to vote against the bill. One of the many reasons he voted against the bill was a provision that changes groundwater contamination cleanup rules so that cleanup is not required until contamination reaches the property boundary.</p><p>McGrady noted that he voted against House Bill 74, the regulatory reform act that started out as two pages but morphed in the Senate to include everything from hog lagoons to carbon monoxide detectors, we noted in our Jan. 26 editorial. The legislation, supported by other local legislators such as N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville and N.C. Rep. Chris Whitmire of Rosman, contains a number of changes that can accurately be described as rolling back environmental protections.</p><p>McGrady deserves a lot of credit for understanding the problems with this bill and voting against it. Not requiring companies to deal with groundwater pollution until it reaches their property line allows polluters to indefinitely put off dealing with serious threats to the environment and public health. AP’s report Monday, for instance, showed how Duke has been buying up property at Lake Julian around its Asheville coal plant, where a plume of serious groundwater pollution is expanding.</p><p>On Friday, we learned Duke pumped 61 million gallons of contaminated water from a coal ash pit into the Cape Fear River. That dumping was first spotted March 10 by the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued Duke a notice of violation which could result in hefty fines, AP reported. We will have to wait and see about that.</p><p>When the state’s environmental watchdogs become lapdogs to industry, it is up to the people  journalists, environmentalists, residents of affected communities  to demand change. This must go beyond punishing Duke or even federal charges, if they are warranted, against state officials for their too-cozy relationship with the utility.</p><p>True regulatory reform will require measures to not only clean up coal ash pits across the state, but a thorough legislative review of the regulatory process from the top down. It must identify and expose the internal mechanisms that allow money, power and politics to corrupt decision-making. Only when these problems are brought to light can the state correct them to assure such a disgraceful turn of events never happens again.</p>